


Free-Fall

by jujus_writing_corner



Series: Whumptober 2019 [12]
Category: Real Person Fiction, Youtube RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Trapped, Whumptober 2019, vomiting mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 20:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujus_writing_corner/pseuds/jujus_writing_corner
Summary: The Jims are ghost-hunting in the catwalk above Wilford's studio when RJ finds himself on a rotting, close-to-breaking beam. He has to stay still while CJ gets help - but there may not be enough time.Whumptober Day 12: "Don't Move"





	Free-Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Protip, kids: Don't run around in theatre catwalks. You will probably fall and die. I found out the other day that apparently they're called "catwalks" because you're supposed to walk slowly and carefully on them, like a cat. The more you know...
> 
> Enjoy!

It’s not uncommon for the Jims to be scurrying along the catwalk above Wilford’s studio. It’s a great place to go ghost-hunting (they haven’t found anything yet, but they’re sure they will if they keep looking!), and it’s just plain fun to have a bird’s eye view of everything in the studio. CJ does occasionally have nerves about the height, but RJ has no such trepidations.

Until, that is, the wooden beam under his feet suddenly feels off.

RJ pauses where he is, and CJ, already on a different beam, looks back to see what’s holding his brother up.

“This beam made my stip-steppy feel weird, Jim,” RJ says. He rocks on his heels once, trying to gauge the beam. “Do you think there’s a demon in the wood?”

CJ peers at the beam thoughtfully, and ultimately shakes his head. _“No ghosts,” _he signs, _“Maybe Pink Jim fired his shooty into it once.”_

That’s a possibility. The odds are pretty good a bullet (or shooty pellet, as Jims say) buried itself into the beam at some point.

“That must be it,” RJ says with a shrug. He starts walking again to join CJ.

After two steps, the beam lurches, wood crackling as the ground shifts down under RJ’s feet. He nearly loses his balance but manages to save himself, waving his arms wildly until he’s standing solidly again. CJ’s face has gone pale. RJ looks at him, heart thumping, and then follows CJ’s gaze to the side of the beam. RJ can just see it if he turns his head. The wood is rotting and cracked, nearly all along the length of the beam. The beam that RJ is currently standing on.

“CJ,” RJ gasps, “I don’t think I’m close enough to make a run for it.”

He isn’t. He’s no slowpoke, Jims are renowned for their speed, but the beam looks ready to snap in two. And the way down is very, very long.

_“Don’t move!”_ CJ’s fingers shake as he signs. _“I’ll get help!”_

“CJ–!” RJ cries, but CJ has already scrambled away, rushing to get back down to the studio floor. And of course, he has to, but RJ finds he doesn’t want to be alone.

The beam creaks again beneath him, and though it doesn’t move this time, it’s just as loud. RJ is very aware of the beam breaking up under his feet. He swallows. He looks down – no he doesn’t. He looks right back up again. Looking down is too much right now. He whimpers. Standing still is _hard_ for RJ – he’s always running from some place to another, or else he’s bouncing his leg, rocking back and forth on his heels, or fidgeting in some other way. To be perfectly still is a task and a half. He knows he has to stay still to stay safe, but his body doesn’t, and restless energy is already building.

Part of it is the fear. Part of him wants to make a break for it despite his earlier statement, just run and jump and get out of danger. But he still knows he won’t make it. Maybe if he goes slower? He takes a single, slow half-step. The beam groans in protest. RJ yelps and freezes. Nevermind that, then. He’s stuck until help comes, whenever that will be.

How long has been stuck up here? Not that long, right? But it feels like a long time. It occurs to him that Wilford is the only one who can really do much to help him. He can teleport to RJ, pluck him off the beam, and teleport him back to solid ground. But Bim can’t teleport. Bim might be able to reinforce the beam somehow, but that’s a gamble. RJ loves Bim, loves his big brother BJ, but his powers can be unreliable and hard to control.

The beam shifts again, jolting down another foot as the wood crunches in on itself. RJ stays frozen. He starts to tremble. Is it from nerves or nervous energy? Probably both. He’s tempted to yell for someone, but he fears that might make the wood break even more. But that’s silly, isn’t it? But the wood is clearly fragile, on its last leg. RJ doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know if there’s anything he _can_ do.

He suddenly realizes he’s been clenching his hands. He loosens them, grunting a little at the soreness that sets in. He looks down at them to see little indents in his palms from his fingernails pressing there. He whimpers again. The beam creaks again. He closes his eyes. That was a mistake; vertigo comes on the instant his vision cuts out. He opens his eyes again. Now he feels sick. He wants to sit down. But he can’t, right? The beam drops further down. There’s his answer.

He tilts his head over to look at the crack again. It’s much wider, now, so thin in places that RJ wonders how it hasn’t broken already. Oh, that thought spooked him. He looks away from the disintegrating beam.

He hates this.

He’s so scared.

He feels sick.

The beam lurches, dips, groans, creaks, cracks, _snaps –_

RJ is falling.

The scream rips from his throat without him making it. He howls all the way down. The rushing air around him howls back. There might be someone else screaming, too. RJ thinks he’s crying. The air pressure closes around him, pushes him down, down, down, down –

Something solid intercepts him, snatches him out of the air. He pinwheels through the air into a portal, somewhere – somewhere pink? He pops back out just as quick, still held tight, under studio lights. He’s set down. He stumbles and collapses, but the ground is right there this time, solid beneath his feet. He stays on the ground, on his hands and knees, but his heart is still doing somersaults.

“That was a bit of a thrill ride, hm?” says a distinct, familiar voice. A hand pats RJ’s back.

RJ pukes.

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad!” Wilford shouts, indignant.

“RJ!!” shouts a new voice, shrill and panicked. Someone comes up beside him. RJ’s hair is brushed out of his face with trembling fingers. “Oh, buddy, you’re green, you poor little guy–”

“Well, he’s not a Jim pancake, so I’d say he’s alright!” Wilford says brightly, though he has the kindness to at least poof away the vomit with a snap of his fingers.

“Give him a minute,” Bim insists, pulling RJ into his arms.

RJ, for his part, is still trying to process that he isn’t, in fact, a Jim pancake. He’s on the ground, but he’s whole. He looks around. Wilford is standing close by, the broken beam lies on the floor a few yards away. RJ’s face is pressed into Bim’s chest by his shaking hands as he strokes RJ’s hair, holding him tight. RJ realizes he’s alive. He still feels sick and scared and horrified that he almost died, but he’s alive. He almost died, he’s alive, he almost died, he’s alive, _he almost smashed against the floor and broke every bone in his body –_

He starts crying, sobbing into Bim’s chest, grabbing onto him like a lifeline.

“Oh no, buddy, shh, shh,” Bim murmurs, though he sounds like he’s crying, too. “It’s okay, RJ, you’re okay, you’re safe, I’ve got you, shh-shh-shh…”

Running footsteps sound from the studio’s entrance, and moments later, another body slams against RJ, huddling against his back. RJ would recognize the feel of his twin cuddling against him anywhere. He turns out of Bim’s chest enough to grab CJ in a one-armed hug, sandwiching himself between his brothers. CJ shivers in RJ’s arms, buries his face in his neck, and RJ feels CJ’s tears on his skin.

“Hey, how are we?” says yet another voice. RJ startles and realizes that Dr. Iplier is in front of him, having come in with CJ. “Are you hurt, RJ?” RJ manages to shake his head as Bim answers.

“He sh-should be okay,” he says, “Wilford grabbed him wh-when he was falling.”

“You should’ve seen it!” Wilford exclaims, puffing out his chest. “I got a running start and poofed right up beside him! The timing was impeccable, of course. I opened up another portal for us to fall into, and then we came back out the other side right here! We were like two little pinballs in a pinball machine. It was incredible!”

“Yeah, well, maybe you think so,” Dr. Iplier says, rolling his eyes, “But I don’t think RJ had any fun, did you, kid?”

RJ shakes his head through a particularly rough sob.

“That was bad, wasn’t it?” Dr. Iplier murmurs, sympathetic, “But you’re okay, you just had a scare.” He looks to Bim. “He’s gonna need a day to relax and calm down from all this. He’d probably feel better in his room with you than in the clinic with me, so do you think you can look after him?”

“Absolutely, definitely, of course,” Bim gasps, taking a hand away from RJ to wipe tears off his own face. “I-I’ll stay with him.”

“Great,” Dr. Iplier answers, smiling gently, “Then it looks like my work here is done. Feel better soon, RJ.”

“Th-thanks, Doctor Jim,” RJ manages. Saying just those few words exhausts him.

“No problem at all, kiddo,” Dr. Iplier replies, before leaving the studio to return to his clinic.

“Th-thank you too, PJ,” RJ adds, looking up at Wilford, still standing close by. Wilford laughs; a boisterous, warm sound.

“My pleasure, chap!” he exclaims, bending down and kissing RJ’s forehead. “I suppose I ought to replace that beam, hm?” He wanders away, muttering about order forms and construction companies and does he need Dark’s permission just to replace a beam?

“How about we go to your room, alright, guys?” Bim asks the twins, who are still crying, holding onto each other and Bim.

“Y-Yeah,” RJ agrees. CJ nods.

A few minutes later sees RJ wrapped up in a blanket and sandwiched between his brothers once more, watching a movie on Bim’s laptop. All three have stopped trembling, all three have stopped crying. The movie they’re watching is lighthearted, cheesy, funny, and it’s just what they all need. Bim has an arm across RJ’s shoulders, reaching to touch CJ, too. CJ’s arms are wound around RJ’s chest, and RJ can feel the pressure and warmth through the soft blanket. Once again, he’s motionless, too swaddled to do any moving. But he doesn’t mind it this time, because he’s safe and comfortable, and exhausted after the day’s excitement. He lets his head droop onto CJ’s shoulder and his eyelids droop closed.

He doesn’t feel sick anymore. Only calm, warm, and most of all, grounded.

**Author's Note:**

> ............get it? grounded? *finger guns* B)
> 
> Catch them in a catwalks like nothing happened a week later. These boys are sweet and lovely but very, very stupid XD


End file.
